By Shanique Richards
St. Kitts Reporter
A delegation of United Nations (UN) Heads of Agencies visited the Federation on a retreat on Tuesday to observe UN Day. The theme of their retreat was: Functioning in Middle Income SIDS (Small Island Developing States) – Investing in Rural Development and Food Security.
This year the United Nations (UN) will be celebrating their 62nd anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations as well as our 25th anniversary of independence with St. Kitts and Nevis. According to the Resident Coordinator of the UN, this year St. Kitts and Nevis has been chosen to receive special assistance from the UN in five disadvantaged areas.
“The UN System has been charged with working together to be more effectively towards making a difference to the people of this region and more specifically St. Kitts and Nevis,” said the Resident Coordinator.
The UN team met with the PM and the Cabinet and held discussions about how they can more effectively support the government and the people of St. Kitts and Nevis and they first identified the most important concerns to be addressed. The five areas of priority which the UN System has decided to focus on in its delivery of assistance are HIV/AIDS advocacy and capacity building, Integration of the millennium development goals into planning with the focus on data collection and the management of that data, risk reduction and disaster management/private shares, child adolescent development and human security, and food security.
It was also stated that the prime minister during this discussion, indicated the importance of adding non-communicable diseases to the focus on HIV/AIDS because the impact of these diseases are also increasing throughout the region. Also, public and private collaboration as well as the importance of the private sector was also discussed in terms of making a difference towards to development of our country.
